The festival of Sanremo

Music is very important for Italians, because singing is part of our own history and tradition. Traditional Italian music has had, since the 1950s, a most prestigious appointment followed by the entire country: the Festival di Sanremo.

The Festival di Sanremo is also known as Il Festival della Canzone Italiana, the festival of Italian music. It takes place at the famous theatre Ariston in Sanremo where, for a week, famous -and less so- Italian singers and performers propose original songs, newly written just for the occasion.

The first Festival of Sanremo was organized by the entrepreneur Pier Busseti and was broadcasted on the radio in 1951. Italians embraced the Festival straight away, and their love for its music and allure never quivered. The Festival’ s week sees singers and stars walk Sanremo’s red carpet, surrounded by the beautiful flowers of Liguria, under the eyes of millions of Italians.

Albano and Romina Power at 1984 Sanremo festival

The competition

The competition is divided in two categories: famous singers and new proposals. The first includes well known performers, already popular and well liked on the Italian music scene.

The second category is made up of both unknown or relatively young artists, who use the Festival as a platform to show their abilities and become famous. However, it is not atypical for those who win the festival not to become famous afterwards: it is, often, their only successful song.

There is a rule that all participants must follow: the song they perform must have never been performed in public and must be entirely original.

Nilla Pizzi, Adriano Celentano, Little Tony, Iva Zanicchi, Ornella Vanoni, Milva, Renzo Arbore, huge names in the history of Italian melodic music, are only some of the famous singers who have taken part in the Festival of Sanremo in the course of its history.

More recently, Eros Ramazzotti and Laura Pausini, who became huge starts all over the world, have also been part of the Festival, the first winning the overall competion in 1986 with “Adesso Tu”, the latter gaining the “Nuove Proposte” in 1992 with “La Solitudine”. Sanremo has been, to both artists, the beginning of an increasingly successful career.

Arisa- Italian singer at the Festival di Sanremo

The Festival, though,is not only about the music and its singers.The Festival also belongs to its presenters, who often play a very important role in determining the success or failure of the event. Certainly, when you say Festival di Sanremoalmost every Italian will think of two names: Pippo Baudo and Mike Bongiorno,who anchored the show many times (Pippo Baudo 13 times, Bongiorno 11) and, thoroughout the years, made it theirs.

The Festival is also an occasion to remember big names of the Italian music. Every year one evening is kept for covers of important songs of the past. The first evening in 2017 witnessed a touching moment when Tiziano Ferro sang a song by Luigi Tenco, 50 years after he committed suicide during the Festival.

The Festival di Sanremo is, therefore, not only a music festival, but a truly cultural event, which is today considered a bona fide Italian tradition. Some of Italy’s best known singers and performers have begun their career on the stage of the Ariston and many of our best loved songs have been performed on the same for the first time.

Paolo Bonolis has presented the Festival di Sanremo twice

Of the “Big” category, the well-known singers, the winners of the Festival di Sanremo have been:

Guests at the Festival di Sanremo

The Festival has always had some guests of International prestige. Some of these did not conform to the traditional substance of the Festival, often accused of being too classic and anchored to the same old artists, thus causing debates and arguments.

Among the many artists that cut through the Ariston stage, there are the Queen, in 1984, Village People in 1985, Europe and Elton John in 1989, Liza Minelli and Tina Turner in 1990, Cindy Lauper in 1995, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen in 1996, David Bowie the following year, Cher and REM in 1999, Gwen Stefani in 2005, Avril Lavigne in 2011.

Probably the most “shocking” was Dita von Teese, the famous Burlesque queen, that in 2010 stripped on the stage, remaining covered only in diamonds worth 2,5 million dollars.

Dita Von Teese stripping at the Sanremo Festival in 2010

In 2015 it was the presence of drag queen Conchita Wurst, that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014, to raise complaints, mainly from the Catholic advocacy groups. This, of course, up to when the winning song became the centre of the real controversy of the Festival.

Conchita Wurst, guest at the Sanremo Festival in 2015

For the third time, in 2017 the Festival will be hosted by Carlo Conti, together with Maria De Filippi. Among the international artists that will be guest at the Festival di Sanremo this year are Ricky Martin, Rocio Munoz Morales, Keanu Reeves, Robbie Williams, Biffy Clyro, Mika and Alvaro Soler.

The Festival di Sanremo is an event that draws millions of viewers every evening, attracted not only by the music, but also the culture, the fashion, the gossip that revolve around this music show.